Goodnight, Swordswoman
by rwbybomb21
Summary: When the world you know is gone and the ones you love don't love you anymore, you turn to games; Kimiko did just that, but the game she was in, it wouldn't let her leave- and she was okay with that. GB!Kirito.
1. Despicable Prison

**This here is proof that I can write anything depressing and make it look **_**goooooddd**_**. **

**Ahem. Anyway, enjoy this depressing story, with a not so stellar ending, but enjoyment should be felt nonetheless. **

**I don't own SAO, because if I did, I would totally make this canon. Imagine the possibilities...**

(^^^^^^)

"_The marks humans leave are too often scars."_

_-John Green-_

(^^^^^^)

Lightning.

It streaked across the sky, slashing grey clouds in two, momentarily lighting up the abysmal area surrounding the inn in which the girl stood, staring at the object in her hands.

Thunderous sounds clapped in tune with the lightning just seconds after, but she could care less; she just witnessed something horrifying. She just witnessed something that would remain with her, even after she got out of this death game called Sword Art Online. Even after the therapy sessions and countless, torturous questions from her distant cousin- she knew that they were not sisters when she snooped around when she was ten, and knowing...cut her insides up like a woodcarver. So she grew cold to all that knew her, found her escape in SAO, and now...now she had nowhere to escape to from this tragedy.

Sachi is dead. She saw it happen; Sachi was not a coward, contrary to what the other members of her guild- the Moonlit Black Cats- thought. No, Sachi was a brave person, constantly teaching Kimiko that survival of the fittest meant nothing if you were not fit. It meant nothing if you had no help and nothing if you had nothing to survive for in the first place. Nothing if you lied about your level, as Kimiko did and nothing if you don't have anything to fight, to live, to die for.

Her death was poison, flooding Kimiko's entire world, burning her heart- both virtual and real- with a sharp numbing pain that made her stop. Stop fighting for the release of the players, stop fighting at all. No, now she was simply locked in her single roomed rented place in the local inn. Floor 22 was her new home now; a place she'd loath to live in yet went there anyway. No towns nearby, nor players for that matter; not a memorable name to the place she lived. She was alone, her fire gone, lost in the burning pits of seclusion.

Kimiko, also known as Kimaka Kazuto in the real world, had finally learned what loneliness felt like. It was like a thousand stabbing rapiers digging into her fingertips, ripping out her nails one by one, peeling the skin from her chest with a rusted carpenter's knife and digging out her heart with raw, uncovered fingers. It was like her favourite colour; black, abysmal, never-endingly depressing, yet always promised that light at the end of the pitch black tunnel. She had found her light in Sachi, and now that it had died to her darkness, she stopped looking.

She stared at the little three-dimensional diamond-like cube in her hands, noticing it was a recording. What caught her interest though was who, exactly, it was from.

Sachi.

She pressed the button, her eyes widening with each word spoken. They shook from left to right, her eyes widening with every single syllable, every sentence, and every heart-felt letter repeated through the recording.

Then they closed towards the end when she heard those fated words. Ones she had said to her only once before, and ones that she wished could be eradicated from her mind forever. Words that had such an impact, she could no longer coherently think, no longer see anything except for the tears blurring her grey eyes. She could no longer do anything but sob into her hands, the cube clutched against her cheek as she released her pent up sadness.

"You will survive."

She sobbed well through Christmas Eve, right into Christmas Day and well past that as well. She didn't stop until there were no more tears to shed, until she had come to terms with her only virtual friend's death.

Then she laughed, softly, never rising in tone but never falling either. Her friend was dead, her entire guild was dead, yet she was still alive; the irony of her life. This must be the punishment for hiding her skills from them, for lying, for not telling the truth- For simply existing. If Klein could see her now, he'd make some stupid comment on how pretty girls shouldn't cry, and then try to make a move or something, ending with her elbow reuniting with his groin.

And then she stopped, wiping the tears from her face. Klein...Klein was someone she hadn't seen since she abandoned him to his friends all that time ago when the game started. Somehow that didn't seem to bother her as much. She had expected him to show up when she defeated Nicholas on Christmas Eve before the message from the deceased Sachi, but alas, he never showed.

It still didn't bother her. Everyone she knew abandoned her or died after she was confirmed by the gaming community to be a Beater- a beta tester that was often called a cheater due to their unnaturally high stats and levels. In retrospect, she realised that she kind of expected it. Everyone in the real world hated her for being a genius; her abnormally high IQ, her beauty, her skill in every video game she's ever come across. It all came down to the hatred radiated from her peers. Even her cousin, Suguha, gave off some hatred for her.

She didn't care. People hated her, yet it never did bother her. Some found her quiet, cold demeanour to be either off-putting or hot- she shuddered at the mere memory of countless people, both boys and men, coming to her, attempting to court her or befriend her due to the amount of attraction her coldness gave off. Eventually she upped that coldness, closing everybody out, never once showing fear or weakness. Even in SAO she was courted, asked for marriage. She eventually got the nickname 'The Black Swordswoman' not only for her favouritism in black clothing and her likewise coloured sword, but also for her heart. Pitch black, no feelings in there other than carnal rage, fury and sadness beyond imagining.

And yet, some brave souls had still tried to thaw out her heart of ice. She let them get close, only to realise much too late what is was they were really after. They didn't like her; they liked her skill, her level, her beauty, her body, her mere presence. No one liked her; some even only wanted her so they could flaunt around how they had, and to quote this from someone she'd overheard it from, 'Tamed the Black Swordswoman's wild heart'.

There was another reason she was shunned in the virtual and real world as well; she was gay. Lesbian relationships weren't exactly frowned upon by the government or society, but it was those within said society that held the judgement over those unfortunate enough to come out public. Kimiko didn't come out, per se, but she did get caught when she was eleven kissing a girl. That girl was inexperienced, only curious, and after she explained it to her friends, she got away easy with only one or two shying away in disgust. Kimiko, however, got the full on hate treatment; everyone loathed her very existence from then on. She completely accepted her sexuality when she was nine and the fact that people made snide remarks and slandered her very being in front of her never bothered in her in the slightest. In fact, she'd welcome their snide comments and harsh remarks- they were a change of pace from the silent glares she'd get from Suguha.

She was alone in the real world, and it only served to hurt her, and now, when she tried to rectify that in the virtual one, she hurt others around her, becoming a danger to the very society that loathed her.

No, she vowed she'd remain solo for the rest of her existence, whether in real life or in SAO. Soloing was her only way of ensured survival, and the survival of all others around her.

She stood up from her chair, took the cube message, pocketed it and silently left the inn.

From this day forward, she'd remain alone.

(^^^^^^)

Slicing the digital head off of a plant-like monster- she forgot the name, but cared little- she sighed, lowering her weapon. Her Elucidator was her prized weapon, the only thing she'd show affection to in this world. She admitted to herself long ago that she'd become attached to the sword, but she didn't care. She'd never trade it for anything; it might as well have become her best friend.

There were rumours, though, of a blacksmith near here that could forge a sword equal to or more powerful than her Elucidator, and so with a quick glance down to her sword, then to her map, she made haste, steps steady and measured, down the cobble pathway to the town said blacksmith was.

She got there sooner than expected, but sighed as she saw the sun set; she'd have to get the soon if she wanted to buy said sword today.

But just as she took a step into the town, a curious sight caught her eye; the sign for a blacksmith's forgery, named 'Lisbeth's', caught her attention: So this must be the blacksmith everyone was talking about?

Sighing in resignation that she'd have to interact with someone, she slowly walked, as if on death row, to the front door of the shop.

Meanwhile, Lisbeth was slamming her hammer down on some newly forged metal, hoping that the system wouldn't randomly generate a hunk of metal. She figured it was a simple glitch with certain metals that she used, because it had only happened once. But once can be too much, right?

Then, just as she lifted the newly forged sword to her eye level, she eyed its stats, wrinkling her nose in disgust. She hadn't forged it properly so it turned out to be a weapon that not even a level ten player would use without it being a last resort.

Before she could even attempt to throw it away or scrounge it for spare materials, the bell that signalled someone entering her shop caused her to drop it, remove her apron and walk hurriedly up the stairs leading out of her forge and into the main shop area.

At about this time, Kimiko was allowing her eyes to wander the entire shop, her standing at the centre with a dagger that looked forged with silver piquing her curiosity. She always did like the silent, subtle approach to things; daggers helped provide the sneakiness that she so craved. She was always so silent in the real world, her footsteps never heard and she was never seen unless she wanted to be- which, I might add, was never.

But the only thing wrong with the dagger was the stats were too low, and it looked light, frail, and fragile to the touch. She liked heavy weapons, something that she could feel as she swung them, be them swords, daggers or even, to some extent, greatswords.

She sighed in disappointment before she heard the soft click of the backroom door being opened, but was completely unprepared for what she saw. She expected an elderly woman, wrinkles on the edges of her eyes, the creases folding in her skin, greyed, papery hands and fingernails that didn't suit her outstretched fingers.

She didn't expect to see a beautiful pink haired girl in a maid-esque outfit, a smile on her face and a light in her eyes. She estimated her to be no more than seventeen, maybe eighteen- no older than Kimiko herself.

She threw these thoughts into the prison that her emotions lay imprisoned, never to be released, and looked up from the dagger. "Hi! Name's Lisbeth, obviously if you couldn't tell from the name of this place." She walked over, behind the counter that held various weapons from small daggers to large Claymores. "What can I do for you?"

Kimiko ignored the staring her eyes begged her to do, to take in the entire form of this beautiful girl in front of her, and simply approached the counter. "I need a strong weapon." She stated simply, ignoring the small blush that obviously coated Lisbeth's cheeks.

She shook her head out of her stupor, staring at Kimiko. "...Of course! Do you have something special in mind or...?" she coughed. "Sorry, but if you do, then a custom weapon will cost a lot of money." _'And you don't look like you have a lot'_, Lisbeth added silently in her mind.

Kimiko simply nodded. "I'm fine for money."

"Okay then!" She clapped her hands together, causing Kimiko to be reminded of her cousin-slash-sister; that girl used to clap her hands in excitement whenever she made a joke or whenever she surprised Suguha with a present or treat. She never did that anymore.

After Lisbeth began searching the back of her shop, Kimiko eyed a blue, crystalline weapon that was hanging against the wall in the back, just behind the counter Lisbeth was searching.

"How about that one?" she pointed to the weapon, to which the blacksmith simply nodded in agreement.

"Sure. This is a masterpiece, one of a kind, so be careful." She handed her the sword, to which Kimiko could see she was struggling to even lift; weren't blacksmiths supposed to have a high strength stat? Once the weapon was handed over to Kimiko, she could hardly see why Lisbeth was having such trouble lifting the sword. It felt as light as a feather to her, though that may be because Kimiko had maxed out her strength stat.

She took a few test swings, before shaking her head and handing the weapon back to Lisbeth, who was looking at her curiously. "Sorry, but it's too light. Do you have anything a bit heavier? And with a higher damage output?"

Lisbeth looked at her in shock, before shaking her head and glaring in anger. "Too light...? Not enough damage!? That is my masterpiece! You dare come in here and offend my greatest weapon like that!?" Her voice rose with each sentence she shouted until she was damn near screaming, and Kimiko could only watch silently with slight hints of apology. She didn't mean for the owner to become offended, but it was just her nature to be critical about everything. It was simply how she learned to survive, and it was simply second nature.

Lisbeth simply glared, her chest heaving as she waited for a reply. Kimiko simply bowed her head. "I apologise, I didn't mean to offend you." She peaked upwards to see the scowl on Lisbeth's face, and sighed, raising herself back up to a standing position. "I suppose I'll waste no more of your time; goodbye."

Lisbeth was about to apologise at how she'd behaved, but the damage was done. She saw the apology, heard it even, and watched as a sad look came over the stranger- she forgot to ask for a name, but she looked familiar- before she sighed as the woman garbed in black simply left the shop.

(^^^^^^)

It wasn't until a year later did she see the Black Swordswoman, the same person to have visited her shop all that time ago. Asuna, a good friend, had asked her to come to the front lines to help forge some weapons for the Clearers to help then defeat the boss of the seventy second floor.

Whilst talking to her, she heard of the rumour of a level ninety player that was so terrifying even the Laughing Coffins avoided her, and they were feared by even the highest level players.

"...Really? Impossible." She seriously doubted the truth behind it, but with each word coming from her friend's lips, she saw the truth becoming less fiction and more solid facts.

"It's true! I take it you've heard of the Black Swordswoman?" after Lisbeth nodded, Asuna continued. "Well, that's who it is." Her voice then became solemn, sad. "I met her twice, and in the second time I met her I saw the very look in her eyes and it was as if the entire world was already gone. As if this was some nightmare that she'd rather live in than survive and live in the real world."

Lisbeth looked taken aback. "That was pretty deep, Asuna."

Asuna simply turned her way and explained, her voice sounding full of pity for the woman she was speaking of. "Well, you see, you've heard the rumours about her, haven't you? That she's got a heart of ice and no emotions? That she constantly turns down everyone who wants to be around her, and never joins with parties, guilds, and has no friends at all?" Lisbeth nodded. "They aren't rumours, Liz, they're real."

Liz didn't have any time to retort, because Asuna continued. "She's never been in a guild, never had a single person to call a friend, and it's rumoured that she is even like this in real life."

Lisbeth looked horrified. "How could someone live like that in real life, let alone here?"

"It gets worse, Liz." Asuna took a deep breath, as if handing her best friend classified information. In a way, it was. "Her name is Kimiko, and she's not only the loneliest player in SAO and possibly real life, but she's also a solo player. She doesn't kill other players, if that's what you're wondering." Seeing the relief come to Lisbeth, she continued. "No, she hunts down Player Killers with a vengeance. The Laughing Coffin fears her to the point of making it a priority to explicitly avoid anywhere she's rumoured to be."

"Wow." That was all Liz's mind could come up with to express the awe and sadness this woman could radiate. "How do _you_ know her anyway? You know her name."

Asuna almost smiled at the memory of her first time in SAO, when she was nothing but a rookie and lost in the world. Kimiko had approached her, seeing the lost look on her face during one of the Clearer's first meetings. She sighed as she still remembered the look of sadness that was hidden behind her stoic look. "She taught me everything I know; or, well, the basics, anyway."

Liz asked for her appearance, and strangely, Asuna simply replied with "She's over there, you know. Go and ask her."

Five minutes and a lot of curious glances towards the Swordswoman later, Lisbeth decided to chance it and talk to her. So she stood up, fire in her eyes and a purpose in each step as she marched over the stood up girl, a small light of curiosity in her eyes as she saw the woman's eyes were closed as she leaned against the marble wall.

Was she asleep?

Lisbeth got her answer when she tapped the girl on her shoulder, jumping backwards slightly when the Swordswoman's eyes shot open, narrowing into slits and focusing on her while her hand held her sword, already pointed at Lisbeth's throat. The Swordswoman blinked before shaking her head slightly, lowering the blade and dematerialising it back into her inventory.

After another couple of tense seconds, Lisbeth's brain clicked. A year ago she saw this girl, in her very own shop, searching for a strong weapon. She remembered shouting at her, and comparing the rumours to the actual meeting of said person, it was...odd.

She was said to strike down those that had annoyed her, yet Lisbeth was still here, and she was pretty sure her tirade struck a lot of open nerves. Again, this woman was said to become annoyed very quickly, but she only displayed calmness eerily similar to that of a broken man, come back from war and reliving everything within his head over and over again. Was that why her eyes were glassy? Was that why she was seemingly often staring at nothing?

"Why are you staring at me?"

Lisbeth shook her head clear of those thoughts at the eerie voice, and looked up to meet grey eyes. "I...came to apologise." The Black Swordswoman simply tilted her head sideways, curious as to what she was talking about. "Well...I kinda did shout at you over something as stupid as a sword... about a year ago..." Liz rubbed the back of her neck gently with her left hand, and as she was about to do the same with her right, a smooth, fingerless glove covered hand stopped her.

"I...don't need an apology." Came the Swordswoman's reply, and before Liz could attest that she was in fact in the wrong, the voice spoke again, silencing her. "My name is Kimiko." Then her right hand was raised to Kimiko's lips, and a gentle kiss was placed upon the back of her hand.

"L-Lisbeth." She coughed; rubbing the blush away with her free hand as Kimiko stared at her expectantly, releasing her hand after a while. "But you can C-Call me Liz."

Kimiko bowed her head, nodding.

It was then that the silence around the floor reached her ears; deafening, yet alarming and calming. It provided three things to her senses; none of them good save for the calming aspect- which only seemed to be around the presence of Kimiko. Liz looked around, curious as to why the area was so quiet, and she found her answer in the surprised and shocked looks on each of the Clearer's faces. Asuna the most, for she had a look of sheer astonishment, as if being told fish could fly.

Asuna rushed over quickly, pulling Lisbeth over to a shaded area, whispering to her as the crowd of people all spoke in hushed tones, directing their gazes towards Kimiko, who simply stood and leaned against the wall.

Asuna got right up in Liz's face. "How?"

The curious and bewildered expression on Liz's face said it all; she had no idea what Asuna was talking about. "How did you get her to talk, let alone to you?"

"Uh..."

"She hasn't talked since she got here, almost a year ago." Asuna explained, causing some gears to turn in Liz's head. "We gave her a private room, but she refuses to sleep in a place she doesn't know." she leaned in, as if to share some secret. "She hasn't slept or spoken in nearly a year."

"I...just...wait; she hasn't slept in nearly a year!?"Asuna just nodded, causing Liz to almost faint at the absurdity. "Have you tried forcing her? Threatening her?"

"We have," Asuna said, sadly. "She refuses our polite suggestions, shakes off our attempts at force and...Well, none of the guys are stupid enough to threaten her." then she looked down. "Except maybe that Klein guy, but he's...well, he looks like a..."

"...Freaky paedophile?" Liz finished, and she knew all too well what he was like; the guy was clearly alone. She met him once when he came to her shop not long after Kimiko left, and he wouldn't stop hitting on her. He looked like a freaky college student virgin.

Asuna sweat-dropped. "I see you've had the unpleasantness of meeting him before?"

Liz grew a disgusted look on her face, almost shuddering as she relived meeting the clearly desperate guy. "Yeah...Unfortunately."

They both shuddered together, but Liz couldn't help but turn her head towards Kimiko...Only to see the mysterious woman vanished from sight, as if never there in the first place.

For some inexplicable reason her heart ached, and she sighed as she looked towards Asuna once more, who seemed oblivious to the fact that the Swordswoman had disappeared, or she simply didn't care.

She sighed, taking note of the time- night-time, midnight to be precise.

Shaking her head, she looked over at the place Kimiko was last seen.

"Sweet dreams, Swordswoman."

(^^^^^^)

Kimiko had cleared the game. It was all over the news on how the brave solo player risked her life, eventually getting trapped within SAO, just to allow the other remaining thousands of players release from the violent death game. Soldiers, the fathers of the people within the game and the war veterans that were trapped in there all came to show appreciation to the hero that had saved thousands by killing one and sacrificing herself. She received medals, special summons by higher ups for when she awoke, and top-of-the-line medical care and engineers, working non-stop to release the trapped hero.

They found out eventually where Kimiko's hospital room was- everyone that she had saved; sometimes strangers, sometimes people she met in SAO, but everyone she had saved from death, from the brutal tragedy that is SAO- Sword Art Online.

She was stuck in there, trapped, and yet her body didn't seem fazed at all, as if it was finally calm, peaceful in a life of constant warring; they could only wonder why. They could only dream of the facts behind her unconscious yet blissful state as opposed to her conscious, angered, temperamental state. They got their answer when they visited her school to pay there condolences to the people she knew.

"That Kimiko freak's finally gone!"

"Dude, she was so creepy. Always sneakin' around..."

"...So quiet as well. No one could get near her without being given the 'death glare of doom'."

Liz- she had adopted the name from her online profile on SAO- couldn't believe her ears. These people truly hated Kimiko outside the game as well? It was sickening, and clearly by the expression on everyone else's faces, they agreed with that sentimentality. Kimiko was truly hated everywhere she went, and now her cold behaviour and sudden disappearances seemed...justified, almost required. She had to survive here for her entire life being shunned, but what hit her and Asuna's ears, as well as Andrew's and Keika's, truly shocked them to the point of Asuna tearing up at the mere thought of it.

"Dude, I hear even her own sister's glad she's gone."

No one could say anything, and without a word the group retreated back to Andrew's little cafe-pub, where they went freely using their SAO login names as identifiers for each other.

Liz sat hunched over, staring at her bowl of rice, when Agil walked over to her, placing a heavy hand upon her left shoulder and looking down at her silently.

The act said words and spoke volumes to her- _"I'm sorry that you can't believe everything you just heard is true." _That's what his hands said to her, and she agreed; denial was something she was used to.

After a minute, he wordlessly reached over his counted and pulled out a game- Gun Gale Online, to be exact.

"A new VRMMORPG," he explained. "It's basically Sword Art, but with guns." Seeing her risen eyebrow, he hastily added. "Don't worry, completely safe. The new NerveGear you get with them- Amuspheres- are one hundred percent guaranteed that you can't die."

"So...dying in this doesn't kill you?" she was quite sceptical of the new VR video games released after SAO's bust. It seemed legit as she read through the blurb of the game; Agil was right down to a 'T'. This was basically SAO with guns.

He saw her look, and decided that he'd help her. "You see, when I first started playing-"

"You've been playing this?" she interjected, causing him to nod.

"-I came across this in-game thing that seemed...odd. Scary even."

She rolled her hands in a motion for him to continue. "You see...the game's based off a post apocalyptic Earth- you know, dust everywhere, futuristic guns, all that jazz- and you basically get rewarded for killing other players." She gasped, but he continued. "I came across a player, civilian one, too, who was rambling to his friends about 'a girl in black who killed the Player Killers'."

She didn't need to be told twice. "Kimiko!?" she shot up, only to find two massive hands clamp down on her shoulders and herself being eased back down into her chair.

"Hold it there, Liz; there's something else you should know, too." He took a deep breath. "She's basically the most hated person in GGO. Since you can set a bounty on someone if they've done something to wrong you, or sometimes it's set automatically, she's killed a lot of people, so a lot of people want her dead."

She widened her eyes in shock as the situation dawned on her. "And..."

He continued. "And, with the state she's in right now in the real world, we don't know what happens if she dies in the game."

(^^^^^^)

Looking above her, shielding her grey eyes from the glaring sun, she thought back, recapping her life here so far.

She had been here a year, was now the most hated person in the game- no surprise there-, had killed over fifty Player Killers- she remembered because she briefly looked at the tallied notches on her FN Five-SeveN- and had briefly been in a relationship. No, supposedly, according to _her_, they still were, considering she'd already told Sinon of her predicament with her disallowance of leaving GGO, and the fact that her blue haired virtual girlfriend wanted something they could never share- a full time, real life relationship.

She sighed, thinking on how she'd had to repeat herself to Sinon on how she could never leave, even if she wanted to- she didn't. The fact that people died and came back to life after a set time period eased her fears of death, though she knew something wasn't exactly right with her set life as it is right now. She knew that death for her could go both ways- a fifty-fifty chance- and she did _not_ want to take said chance for anything.

She heard a clatter of feet, approaching from her left flank, and sighed; another set of bounty hunters? How great. Because, you know, the eighteen bounty hunters she'd had to send home with their tails between their legs in the last week alone wasn't enough warning? Shaking her head in irritation, she back-flipped, landing behind a large boulder that was elevated to provide _just_ the right angle.

"_...Kimiko? Are you okay?"_ her earpiece flared to life, causing her to wince at the unexpected static afterwards- Sinon's voice flooded her ears, and as much as she'd loath to admit it, it calmed her rapidly beating heart just enough for her to take out her pistol and fire three shots into the approaching, unaware faces of the bounty hunters.

She sighed, raising her two fingers to her left ear and tapping once, activating it. "Yes, I'm fine." Her voice held an edge, as sharp as her Photon Sword. She could practically hear the wince Sinon made, and it made her frown more; she and her temper were really at odds lately. She sighed, "Sorry...just more bounty hunters."

"_Need help?"_ her voice was hurt, but she knew Sinon would get over it; she always did, and to be frank, that's what Kimiko found attractive about her- not her level, her strength, but her sheer will. Something they both shared. Another thing they shared was pasts; while Kimiko's was more scarring, Sinon's was...disturbing, nevertheless- not as much as Kimiko's own, but still enough to bring any normal person to their knees, weeping and begging.

"No. How about we talk some more though? I know you like to talk." Her tone held a softness when she spoke next, and a hint of affection; she'd be lying if she said that Sinon wasn't too good for her, and she'd also be a liar if she said she didn't feel the same way as Sinon did- just not as much affection as the mentioned blue haired sniper, but just enough to be called 'Like-liking'.

Her answer got the reaction she hoped for as she casually lined up a scared hunter's head- balding, but clearly only twenty; what were they making as avatars these days? _"HEY! Well...maybe I won't talk, how about that?"_ came the childish reply through her earpiece, and she smiled a small smile, shaking her head slightly as she brought out her glowing purple sword, slicing an approaching hunter's head off before switching back to her Five-SeveN.

"I like hearing your voice; calms me down."

The reply was stuttered, and at first she thought it to be the earpiece, but then thought otherwise- Sinon was known for being nervous when complimented. _"R-R-Really?"_

Kimiko shot two more, before replying. "Yep. So, how was school?" she smiled as she heard the soft outtake of air through the piece, and looked around to find no more bounty hunters.

"_It was...fine."_ Kimiko heard the hesitation, and frowned- hesitation like that could only mean two things.

She found a nearby flattened boulder, hiding her form beneath an array of shade before pitching a camouflage tent she used to evade wildlife and players whilst she slept safely. "Okay, what happened?"

She heard silence, then a loud shot from Sinon's Hecate MK II. _"I uh...it was...nothing?"_

Kimiko narrowed her eyes into slits, glaring at a nearby rock and putting a warning tone in her voice as she spoke next. She hated liars, but with Sinon, she knew better. Whenever Sinon lied, it was either for her benefit, or someone else's, never for her own selfish gain.

That didn't mean she liked it though.

"Sinon..."

"_Okay fine! They got me again today."_

She knew who 'they' were; bullies, preying on the weakened state of Sinon's mind, exploiting the incident that happened when she was a child over and over again, forcing her to become a living nightmare-attracter. It made Kimiko's blood boil that she could do nothing to protect her girlfriend. She could in this game, but that was it; nothing to help her outside of it, and no way of contact. It was just so...infuriating. in SAO she had longed for someone to fight for, and she thought Lisbeth was that someone, but then she was transported into the game of GGO, and had realised that her suffering must have been just so she could meet Sinon; she still hated that she could do nothing in the real world, though.

Sinon could tell her girlfriend was stewing in rage, and her earlier statement came into mind. If her voice could clam her down, then why was she letting Kimiko stew when she could help the pot calm the boiling waters? _"Say...Kimiko?"_

Kimiko's sigh could be heard through the earpiece, and Sinon smiled. She knew physical contact helped in little ways, but it never had such an effect as her own voice did. She could use this in the future for missions such as this- well, it was hardly a mission. Kimiko, since she couldn't get back to the real world, had to survive off of in-game foods- and since they couldn't just walk into the nearest town for fear of bounty hunters catching wind, they'd made do from scavenging from dead players, wasteland animals and mini-bosses.

"Yeah?"

"_How was your day?"_

She chuckled, catching Sinon off guard; she had never heard her chuckle before. But Kimiko obliged nonetheless, regaling her lover on how she'd managed to survive another day of this hell. How she'd managed to recall her time in SAO and why she was who she was today. She managed to tell her all about the tears she'd shed that morning, just being away from Sinon- that earned a few sniffles from Sinon herself- and how she feared Sinon had been killed or had died in the real world.

"Sinon...?" her voice was soft now, something she had never used for anyone else other than Sinon; all for her, only for her.

"_Yeah?"_

"I..." she wanted to say it, but she'd been burned enough times for her natural instincts to kick in, to protect herself from the pain that was sure to come. She wanted to say them, the tree words that could make her smile for the rest of her life- in or out of the game. "...I..."

You could practically hear the smile in Sinon's voice, but Kimiko was stressed. _"Hey, it's okay; you don't have to say it yet, okay? When you're ready..."_ a pause, then, _"...I love you Kimiko."_

Kimiko sniffled and wiped her grey eyes, sighing as she heard silence from the other side of the earpiece, before she heard something odd- heavy breathing. It was as if...Sinon fell asleep? Of course she did, why wouldn't she?

She looked up, seeing that their talk had taken them well into the night. It finally dawned on her how much Kimiko just released from her shoulders, and she sighed, a small weary smile working its way onto her face.

The sun was setting, and while nowhere near as captivating as the sunsets in SAO or even real life, it still served to catch her attention and ease her mind.

Turning herself over onto her back, she lowered her stomach to the ground, curling up beneath a sandy-coloured camouflage tent.

She knew Sinon would never hear it- when a player went to sleep in the game, she got the choice to sleep in-game or wake up in the real world; and whenever this option came up, she knew Sinon would always leave the world, her avatar in a state of sleep in the same place until she returned.

"Goodnight Sinon, pleasant dreams."


	2. Hopeless Freedom

**Well, this was originally intended to be a one-shot, but due to popular demand- Popular being about five to nine reviewers- I've decided to see how long this story goes on before I run out of inspiration...or readers. **

**This chapter is completely fluffy, because this is all I could come up with. Don't kill me. I would do a depressing, angst filled chapter, but this came to mind and my inner voice shouted "Sure, why not?"**

**So here this travesty is.**

**Yay.**

**(^^^^^^)**

When you think on it, really, really hard, you'd kind of see that Kimiko wasn't the complete badass she was made out to be.

I mean, yeah, she was stuck in a game where death meant dying in the real world; and it got worse when she woke up one day after killing Kayaba in SAO to find herself in a new game, American made and completely safe- well, for the other players. She had no idea where she was or what was going on, but she learned quickly when she saw a group of government-looking chumps in black suits waving around a wanted poster with her face on it.

She was still in a game, that was certain, but what game it was, exactly...well, that was the thing. She should have died in SAO; she'd made peace with herself, had convinced herself that it was the only way. She'd had to leave behind her surrogate daughter, Yui in the process- that was heartbreaking enough, and it almost crippled whatever semblance of sanity Kimiko had left when Yui 'died'.

She should have died in that monstrous game, becoming a martyr and freeing the others from the game by sacrificing herself. She'd become the Jesus Christ of the modern age, and for some reason, as much as reverence as a hero in death sounded cool, she hated it. dying for someone else, for the very people that put her through hell in the real world, made her have to think really hard on whether or not to become the martyr the world needed. She died for them in the end, drifting off peacefully with the first smile she'd ever had in nearly ten years.

Apparently it wasn't enough; her torturous life was constantly filled with death and glares, disappointed words sent her way and beatings following soon after. Her hellish nightmare of a life decided to spite her decision to die peacefully to save the others, and when she opened her eyes, she'd been completely lost; in place of forests and medieval buildings were crumbling skyscrapers and sandy desert lands.

She'd walked through the barren desert lands for four days before remembering that even in game she needed to eat to survive- another thing others needn't have worried about.

That was when her eyes met Shino's, a girl who was wandering around with a massive sniper in her hands, trigger finger itchy to shoot something that remotely looked like an enemy.

She remembers shocking Shino with her superb speed as the woman took aim and fired at her; she'd claimed she was known as the best sniper in GGO, but Kimiko had dodged every bullet as if it weren't even worth dodging them at all.

Kimiko had explained her position, told the whole story of her life, and in the end Shino had made a vow that would shock her beyond anything; she'd make sure Kimiko got out of the game, even if it killed her.

After that, well, they began working together, becoming infamous, and eventually fell in love- though Kimiko would never say she loved her, simply because...well...she was used to being strong! Showing emotion in her eyes was something seen as weak, but Shino was doing her best to break it out of her.

One night though she paid the price for her stupidity and illusion that she was finally falling for Shino; a group of raiders, twenty or so, had ambushed them as they slept together soundly, ignoring the world around them- that was her first mistake.

The second mistake she made was telling Sinon- or Shino, or whatever her real name was- to run, when really she should have been thinking about her own survival; Sinon could survive in the real world if she died in the game, while Kimiko wasn't so sure about herself.

The last stupid thing she did was slice an explosive round in half, the shrapnel killing her instantly, and her world blacked out.

(^^^^^^)

Eyes shot open, feeling as if they hadn't been open for years, shooting around to find desperately a notice of where she was; this all seemed to unfamiliar, her chest felt heavy and her arms tired. Speaking of her arms...

Wiry papery arms, thin, bony hands, blue veins visible through her pale skin. Blue veins. Veins; veins meant blood, blood meant real world, real world meant...she'd gotten out of the game. But how? She remembers slicing that explosive round, then her world going dark.

How had she finally managed to leave the game, finally, just by dying? Did someone from the virtual world do it for her? No, she doubted they'd try to care enough to help her, let alone actually help in the first place- someone from the real world, perhaps? Yes, that sounded more plausible than her previous idea, but the question remained as to whom, exactly, would care enough. Her cousin, Suguha, who she knew hated her with every fibre of her being? No, she'd probably liked her 'disappearance'. Maybe a simple nurse got lucky? An engineer perhaps?

The more she thought the more her head hurt, and so she stopped. Raising a hand connected to IV drips and other wires sticking from it, she lifted the NerveGear from her head gently, only to find that as soon as she did she was attacked by something that she detested more than life itself, abhorred with her very being and instinctually tried, but failed, to get out of and away from; a hug. It made her heart try to feel things, and she didn't want that; but the hug felt similar, like a memory you just can't place until you see a photograph of it, and then it clicks. It hits you like falling bricks from the sky, like a wave of water as you wade through the shallow end of the ocean. Like an amnesiac suddenly remembering everything of the past thirty years they'd forgotten.

This hug felt too familiar to be something of a one-time thing. No, this hug felt anything but platonic, wanting, needing of reciprocation to know that she wasn't dead inside as always has been. She'd never hug back, if that person truly knew her and wasn't some random person who wanted to meet a hero and cop a feel.

Looking down slightly, though, her glassy grey eyes came across a most curious sight; brown tufts of hair sticking up in all different directions, a feminine figure wearing what appeared to be a school uniform, and she could feel a pair of glasses pressing into her chest, making her unconsciously blush out of the sheer awareness she had over her own personal space.

Clearing her throat, she almost laughed at how the person stiffened up, before raising their head to meet eye level.

And then her laughter choked her, for she stared wide eyed at the familiar looking girl in glasses. "S-Sinon...?" Immediately after speaking, her voice croaky already, she began to cough, a mixture of liquids pooling in the back of her throat, attempting to dry the barren tube and remind her of the need of water. Sinon wordlessly passed her a glass of water that lay on a side table, but her jaw dropped when Kimiko downed it all in one knock-back of the glass.

While the meagre amount of water barely satiated her needs, Kimiko overlooked her parched throat attempting to preserve the small trickles of water as she stared into Sinon's eyes, a question silently forming; if she knew Sinon, a blush would start right...about...now. And lo and behold, her cheeks were tinted red as Sinon shakily sat up and dragged herself next to Kimiko, more than aware of the wires protruding from her virtual lover's arms and legs, not to mention her chest- it was barely covered, so Sinon couldn't help but stare for a second. Kimiko simply attempted a chuckle, it coming out as a wheezing laugh.

Once it died down, an explanation was given. "Well..." unsure of what to do, Sinon explained everything that happened, to the best of her ability, anyway. "Once you went to sleep in the game they- the engineers working to get you out- discovered that your heart rate seemed to fall like it does in the real world. So, when you died last night it put you in a state of sleep, and an engineer got lucky and disabled the part of the NerveGear that emits the radiation...stuff." she really wasn't good at the technical side of things- she left that to Kimiko- so Sinon's explanation was rushed, lacking, and above all, exactly something she'd come up with to say. "Apparently he got some sort of award."

Kimiko simply lifted an eyebrow before stealthily looking over Sinon. "You know...you really don't look different from what you used to look like in GGO." Now that she thought on it, all that looked different were the eyes and the hair colour. Everything else, even the style of hair, was all up to par. Though Kimiko was not one to complain, for she was practically a carbon copy of her avatars in both SAO and GGO; something about her avatar and consciousness being transmitted into GGO from SAO when that world ended.

Sinon just stifled a giggle and snorted rather cutely. "Says you, you look exactly the same. At least I looked slightly different." Sinon then lifted her hand to cup Kimiko's face, while the other flicked her on the nose. "And my real world name is Shino."

"Yeah...no. I like Sinon better. Besides," Kimiko then flicked Sinon back, earning a small puppy-like whine. "I prefer my online name to my real one."

After stopping herself from giggling, Sinon asked, "And what _is_ your real one?"

Kimiko placed a hand over her face, sighing deeply with a red tinged face and closed eyes. "If I tell you do you promise not to laugh?" peeking through the holes that her fingers allowed, Kimiko looked at Sinon with the most serious expression she could muster up.

Sinon just placed a hand over her heart, trying not to laugh already at the sight of a trying-to-be-serious Kimiko.

Kimiko just sighed once more. "It's Kimaka Kazuto."

Five minutes. The silence afterwards lasted for five whole minutes before Sinon just stared with what seemed to be pity and a mixture of wanting to laugh but holding it back. It's the expression one gets at wanting to laugh at someone falling over, but then finding out that said someone is disabled. If she did so it would alleviate her need to laugh her head off, but at the same time make her feel like crap for the rest of the day and apologise profusely for the rest of the week, knowing it would have little to no effect on Kimiko.

"Wow," was all she could say without hurting Kimiko's feelings. "That's...you must have been picked on a lot, huh?"

"The girl with a guy's last name, wandering around a school of at least six hundred hormonally challenged, horny teenagers? Oh yeah, I was picked on a _lot_. So many spit-balls; how can you even produce that much spit!?" she sighed, rubbing her stomach calmly; it was something she picked up from Sachi- god rest her soul. The girl, when she was nervous, anxious or simply contemplating would rub her stomach and close her eyes- this often got her confused with being hungry, not that Kimiko wasn't raring for some big ass animal to eat right about now.

Sinon seemed to pick up on the tick Kimiko had, but let it be- Kimiko had never expressed hunger before aside from verbally, so she knew this was something else.

And so they laughed it off, eventually agreeing to use their in-game names because they were both easier to remember and cooler than their real life names.

But Kimiko had an ulterior motive; she'd be walking Sinon to school as soon as she got out- if she had anything to say about it, she'd be out by tomorrow- and she'd make sure everyone knew not to mess with Sinon ever again.

(^^^^^^)

She was given so many medals, so many awards for saving thousands of lives, so many hand shakes that she still felt the tremors that she just didn't know how to feel. The general populace treated her as some sort of hero, but those that were in SAO and know who she is know that she was more than that. She was an outcast pariah, someone who fought no matter what- the Sachi incident was a minor setback- to free those of the death game. She remembered running her sword with sick satisfaction through he-who-shall-not-be-named- also known as Kayaba-, and smirking evilly when she placed a bullet between the eyes of many a would-be assassin.

Killing Death Gun was just fun.

She ignored it to the best of her ability as she walked down the street, hand in hand with Sinon, glaring at all who turned their heads their way- little children and old folks were allowed leeway, but not much.

Where was she currently walking? To Sinon's school, of course. She had promised to act as an unofficial protector for the girl, of a sorts anyway, and swore to keep her out of harm for the rest of her life; she may as well have proposed right there and then, but with the restrictions on gay marriages...she settled for promises that she knew she'd keep. Plus that would be rushing it a bit.

It didn't take a while to walk her there, but it did to spot the small bench that Sinon usually sat at alone. While yes, it was small and charming, Kimiko had to admit that this was a place of unfathomable loneliness, a feeling she knew all too well. It suddenly dawned on her how little she knew of her girlfriend- and vice versa- and how much they had to catch up on. But aside from the digressing, Kimiko sat down, earning a couple of wary stares from nearby students, teachers and passing parents.

When one person she recognised from her old school looked at her in shock, Kimiko simply glared, scaring the man witless and speed walking in the opposite direction.

Sinon sat down shortly after, immediately placing the back of her head on Kimiko's shoulder, leaning against her with a sad expression. "Time for hell," she muttered "are you sure you can't come in with me?"

"This is _your_ school, not mine; sorry, but I don't think they'd appreciate someone like me wandering around with you during your classes." Sinon frowned at that, and Kimiko looked down at her while stroking circles into her back. "It'll be okay, won't it? You're Sinon in GGO, so why can't you be her here as well?"

While the words didn't cheer her up, they did give her some form of courage to face the day, truly like a brave heroin with a massive sniper rifle would: Except no killing...which with some people it was hard to resist the urge. Many bullied Sinon due to her glasses being a requirement, her nerves and her fear of guns; and the same three that tormented her every day about guns just happened to be walking in their direction. Her courage sank to the bottom of her feet, remaining there, though Kimiko's presence gave her enough still to look up at them as they approached.

Kimiko crossed her arms over her chest, sighing and shaking her head slightly at the sight of a slightly cowering Sinon and a group of girls; they must be the bullies, the ones that use the excuse of a fear for weapons as an excuse to bully and get a rise out of Sinon.

She was going to have some fun tormenting them, but how? What fears did they have? They bullied, so they were insecure, and they went for someone with a dark past and who was a bit jumpy to boot. Hmm...Maybe abusive parents? Could she taunt them with such a low blow?

No, she may be dark, cold hearted, but she knew her limits- that's more than could be said for her childhood tormentors. Embarrass them somehow, but how exactly? She could figure out what they wanted to do, why, and then embarrass them with a comeback for when they likely started to bully Sinon.

An idea that brought a wry grin to her face.

The leader, who's name was mentioned but didn't interest her in the slightest, walked right up to Sinon, completely ignoring Kimiko as if she didn't exist; a small frown creased her face: She hates her even more now. Such a self-righteous bitch doesn't deserve to be in her presence, let alone ignore it.

Suguha hated when Kimiko even breathed, and as much as she tried, Kimiko couldn't hate her back for it; she loved her sister-slash-cousin with as much platonic, familial love there could be between them. They actually had a good childhood, were the best of friends, and would do everything together. Then, one day, Suguha seemed to realise something or was convinced of something, because the next minute Suguha ignored her, glared at her, called her names daily, and it hurt. It still hurts, and even Sinon's presence couldn't keep the spikes of pain crashing into her away.

She shook her head, having realised that she had completely ignored Sinon's curious eyes and the glaring haughty girl in front of her.

With a superiority complex, she sure seemed confident that Kimiko would do something to aid her in some form of argument or another; why would she exactly? Sure, she had ignored the argument, and yes she had spaced out, but this random girl, who was picking on her girlfriend, was staring as if smug; almost relying on Kimiko to join her, to aid her.

Kimiko just stared, and for a minute both girls had a fierce staring competition. "What do you want?"

The girl jumped, not expecting that, and replied with a smug grin and a flash in her eyes, her back straightening as if demanding respect. ""You weren't listening to the past two minutes?"

Kimiko just stared, emotionless for another minute, before stating "Should I have been?"

One of the girl's friends simply leaned in to her other friend and whispered "She's so cool!"

The other nodded in agreement, before eyeing Kimiko up and down. "And hot."

The leader of the group didn't seem to hear her friend's statements, and looked at Kimiko with a curious gaze. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Sinon calming down, and was thankful for that. At least diverting the girl's attention had allowed Sinon to slip out of the argument, but the girl still had smarts to stay within her lover's field of vision.

She tended to attract trouble when Kimiko wasn't there.

"Well...what do you mean?" it was said as a question, but Kimiko could hear the demand behind it, and decided to play along.

"I mean..." she answered slowly. "...why drag me, a girl you don't even know, into an argument between you and Si-Shino?" she had to correct herself, but the girl in front of her didn't seem to catch the fault in the words.

She looked taken aback, and tried to defend herself against such a logical conclusion. After a while, she just decided that she didn't know why she had decided to drag Kimiko into it, and looked at her with a frown, but a sorry face nonetheless.

"Well...I don't know." 

"Let me guess." Kimiko loved this, toying with her like a cat; she used to do it all the time in SAO, and GGO just provided more means to toy with people, before killing them mercilessly. Sadly killing was something she couldn't do here- well, without getting caught- and the first person she'd kill was staring at her with a worried expression. "You thought I'd help you in whatever bullshit argument you were in, just because I was there; that about right?"

The girl was speechless and her friends were openly giggling. While she stood there with an open mouth, looking a bit like a fish, Kimiko pretended to look her over sensually.

The girl, however, noticed her faux-hungry look.

"You're gay!?"

Kimiko knew she'd throw up a little saying this, but it had to be done, for the sake of annoying her into leaving Sinon alone. "And you're _hot_."

The two girls behind her seemed to be fanning themselves over the husky tone Kimiko used, and the black haired beauty enjoyed watching the leader of the three's face fall into that of mild disgust, but heat up red. flattery worked on all different kinds of people, as she had learned early on in life; compliments would get answers, flattery would get you anywhere you wanted- even if the other person said it wouldn't, it would, truly.

She'd sooner nail herself to a train track for what she was next about to do, but it had to be done. She sauntered past the open-mouthed girl, closing her mouth with an absent hand as she passed, swinging her hips that even brought Sinon's attention.

She walked in between the two red faced, fanning girls, brushing a hand over their cheeks and whispering in both their ears. "You two look a little hot under the collar...care to take it off?" she was cringing on the inside, but the effect seemed to take place; both the girls feinted, the leader of the group running away shouting profanities and how her girls needed work.

All in all, as Kimiko waved a blushing Sinon away, she came to the conclusion that today had been a rather productive one.

Now, to visit her old SAO acquaintances: And to see Liz...oh boy, this was gonna be a hard week for her.


	3. A Word Called Happiness

**This took a little less time than the second chapter with being written, and for everyone that likes this story, thank you.**

**To perform a service for you all, I'll clue you in on another GB!Kirito story I'm making; as are all my stories, this will be a yuri story. That means lesbians, girly-gay, female relationships, whatever you wanna call them. **

**So, the story will be called, when I finish writing out the first chapter, "The Rabbit of Sword Art", and will feature a mute, cold, emotionless Kimiko who's ridiculously over-protective of Yui in later chapters. The pairing will be SachixKimiko, but I am following the plot to some degree, so you can already guess what happens. There is going to be some unrequited love, a lot of dark themes, and this will be, generally, one of my darkest stories yet. **

**But enough about that, on with the story!**

(^^^^^^)

"_Pain tends to heal as time passes, but personally I don't want time to heal my wounds."_

_-Ciel Phantomhive; Black Butler (Kuroshitsuji)- _

(^^^^^^)

"_I feel that sometimes, when I feel pain, I also feel happiness; pain lets me know I'm not completely dead inside after all...and because of that, I am happy."_

_-Me (Rwbybomb21)-_

(^^^^^^)

Winter.

It used to be her favourite time of year. When the snow fell, when the white enveloped the ground and rooftops, all other children would run along back to their homes, sitting next to fires and sipping hot chocolate with their smiling siblings and parents.

When the bitter cold swept through the land, breezing through dead trees and burning skin like a cooling fire; that was the time Kimiko truly lived. She smiled when snow dropped sedately to the ground around her; she hummed a small tune when she walked through the near empty streets, only stopping to leisurely pick up some snow and drop it to the ground, watching its slow descent back to the earth.

She hates the winter now, if only for the painful reminder that it was around this month, December, that Sachi lost her life due to Kimiko's mistake; she made it a prerogative to never make a single mistake again.

She remembers so long ago, so long ago of the times she'd smile at anything. She longs for those days to come back, she longs for her smile to flutter to her face once more.

But alas, she'd long since forgotten how to smile. Even before SAO she was either staring blankly or scowling. Smiling never seemed to be a part of her emotional range. When she found herself, somehow, in GGO, she expanded her emotional range with a new emotion; anger. She rarely felt anger, but in GGO she learned it helped when feeling pain. Turn the pain into anger, turn the anger into a scowl, turn the scowl into a blank face; rinse, repeat.

She longs for the smile she had, the one that warmed hearts and made even hardened police officers or strict school teachers crack a smile back. Everyone else longed for her smile too; they needed it, wanted it, and craved it like addicts craved cocaine.

When she got out of the never-ending death game, she realised much too late that she found it quite hard to discern reality from _virtual_ reality.

Which is why she couldn't believe the moment she stepped through the doors that led to Agil's- or Andrew, as he was known as in the real world- bar.

It was extremely reminiscent of a tavern form SAO; Agil's beaming smile confirmed the idea that he thought it would be a good change of pace.

It seems they'd already forgotten that she spent more time in that death game than they had, that she'd memorised how each and every tavern in SAO looked. She'd seen every single floor and every single floor's hotels and taverns. It also occurred to her that Agil, as well as the others, had completely forgotten what a tavern in SAO looked like.

She looked to a small corner- the 'Kimiko corner', as Lisbeth had called it- that was lit up with a small torch similar to those from SAO, and in the back of her mind she recalled the moments she'd spent in taverns. Shaking them away, she bee-lined for the corner, Agil and the others not noticing her arrival; much too busy celebrating the upcoming New Year.

She quickly snuffed out the torch with her fingers- she could feel the burn of fire on her fingertips but ignored it. Sitting in the pitch black corner, she felt as though she was sitting in SAO again, at the back of a tavern with a bottle of some alcoholic beverage that she didn't take the time to remember being nursed between her fingers the only real difference.

She sat, staring from the pitch blackness of the corner to all her 'friends'. To her they were simply means to an end- the end being the one hundredth floor of SAO, and the means being their teamwork to push through the floors.

Sinon was away with some distant relatives in America for a full month, which meant a full month of loneliness and finding something else to do other than hang around Sinon like a protective cloud. It meant a full month of returning back to her old habits of before SAO; absolutely nothing. It meant stalking shadows and staying as far away from her 'sister' Suguha for as long as she could before she absolutely had to get put with her to do something.

It meant one long month of painful memories that she was becoming numb to. Sinon had acted as a repressor of sorts, ensuring that with just her being near, Kimiko would never have to fall back into the blackness of which she had adopted so well. She was known as the Black Swordswoman in SAO, a woman with a heart as black as the void and clothing to match it. She was known as the Black Gunwoman in GGO, simply, again, because of her clothing, her attitude, and her black-handled sword.

But in real life she was simply a girl with an obsession for hiding in dark places and a tendency to wear black; though the black-hearted attitude stayed and was present before entering SAO.

In fact, now that she'd thought on it as hard as she did just then, a sudden realisation dawned on her; SAO was, for only a minute, the first place she'd shown kindness- or anything remotely similar of the sort. She'd walked into a blacksmith's shop, subconsciously commented on the quality of the weaponry she could see on display, had a pleasant conversation about buying a strong weapon...and then, somewhere along the way, she'd said the wrong thing- a usual occurrence.

She'd angered the girl, left with a heartfelt sorry that she actually meant, and then- unwillingly- met the girl about a year later when she was invited by Asuna...

...Asuna hated Kimiko. in her exact words, Kimiko was _"Something that shouldn't be dwelled on for too long, lest you lose brain cells trying to figure her out"_. Of course, she wasn't openly hostile, but, as mentioned, Kimiko was a master as staying hidden for lengthy amounts of time. That meant that Kimiko had the _displeasure_ of hearing her name slandered up and down as if it were a curse.

She simply crossed her arms over her chest and leaned in her chair; the wooden seat lost the two legs keeping it to the ground as she leaned even more, the chair at a solid forty-five degree angle. She tilted her head downwards, chin resting against her small chest, and soon Kimiko was rocking in the chair slightly.

Her eyes were closed, but with hearing as impeccable as hers she could hear even muffled whispers; though those did take a little concentrating to hear without trouble of deciphering the words first.

Words just flew around, some moving onto the topic of Kimiko, but most were simply talking about their lives and how they were getting on; the friends they'd made, the people they'd met, lovers, things like that.

Nothing interested her, so she leaned back a little more, only to hear footsteps coming her way; Asuna, most likely by the footsteps and how light they were- the girl had an obsession with keeping her figure, or other such nonsense.

She was right when the girl sat opposite her, noticing the black themed girl sat in the darkest of the shadows. Asuna released a surprised squeak that went unheard by everyone else, and was about to stand back up and scurry back off to Liz, before Kimiko's voice sounded out.

"Sit back down." It was said with such finality, but also a deadness that didn't go unheard by the light brown haired girl. In a matter of slow debate, Asuna sunk sluggishly back down into the chair, eyeing Kimiko warily but with a hint of interest in her eyes. Kimiko also, she noted, sounded tired; she looked it as well, what with the raccoon eye-like bags beneath her eyes and the unnatural sharpness of her cheekbones, Asuna could tell she hadn't had much sleep at all.

Kimiko seemed to ignore the girl that hated her enough to not speak to her, and simply leaned her chin back against her chest. Sleep was eluding her, nightmares plaguing her when it came to her willingly without the use of sleeping pills. Nightmares about Sachi's death plagued her most, nightmares about the rest of the Midnight Black Cats weren't as often but still prevailed over the ones she'd rather have.

Yui...oh dear Lord how she missed the little girl she'd seen as a daughter. She remembers doing something with a console just after Yui was erased from the CARDINAL system, but what, exactly, she doesn't know. Now that she thought on it, when searching through her inventory one day she found an item labelled with three question marks, and no relevant data to allude to what it could be. Could it be Yui?

She shocked Asuna when Kimiko stood up, straight as an arrow, and speed walked to the door of the bar; but Agil- or Andrew- got in the way. His muscular arm came out and held the door closed; his face with a smile that didn't seem to fit with his cheeks. But instead of greeting her for finally showing her face to everyone else, she seemed to have some sort of urgent matter to attend to- at least form his point of view. He hadn't seen her so focused since...well, SAO, and that was only when she was fighting a floor boss.

He nodded, moved his arm, and before he could blink she was gone, the door already closing behind her when he turned to look.

Shrugging, he went back to the party, Asuna forgetting the ordeal and complaining at how Liz kept talking about something or another.

(^^^^^^)

Arriving at her home, Kimiko opened the door with little haste; she realises running out like that wasn't a good idea at the time, considering it was unneeded. She had all the time in the world to get Yui back, but then and there she felt it necessary to have her back now, and with that thought colliding with her previous one of 'haste not mattering' she realises she'd just lied to herself.

She needed to be as fast as possible to retrieve the girl.

As she opened and closed the wooden door leading to the interior of her home, Kimiko's faux-mother simply turned her head slightly to see who it was, before noticing Kimiko, nodding once, and turning her head back. Kimiko simply ignored her altogether.

Her feet moved two at a time up the stairs taking her considerably less time to reach the top, before turning and almost being knocked down by her 'sister'.

Suguha, recovering from her run-in with a wall, turned to look at the wall she'd run into; she was sure she was nowhere near the wall that helped connect the stairs to the floor, but maybe she was- oh, it was only Kimiko.

Now, while she'd admit that her mother was far more civil than she, Suguha was having second thoughts on her treatment of Kimiko- the girl just survived and beat a death game, saving thousands, and then survived dying in another death game, but only she could die. She had proven herself to be a hero of the modern world, and to prove that point, ministers and presidents form all over the world that heard of the game and its winner came to greet her in person; shake a hand, take a picture, that kind of thing.

She was a modern day knight in shining armour, but all she had received were a few meet-and-greets from world leaders of countries she didn't even know the names of, and a couple of nods of acknowledgement.

Shaking her head to rid her thoughts of her renewing her relationship, she scowled at Kimiko, who seemed to expect it and simply lowered her head. The girl seemed to actually be sad at their lost relationship, but Suguha remained adamant in her choice- Kimiko wasn't someone you should like, not after the things she'd been rumoured to have done in SAO and GGO.

Before Suguha could get a word of scolding out, however, Kimiko lifted her head a little, not enough to make eye contact but enough for Suguha to see the dead look in Kimiko's grey eyes. "Sorry for walking into you, Miss."

Suguha's eyes widened; when did Kimiko start calling her 'Miss'? It was as if she'd completely given up on trying to get her back as a sister; even a cousin for that matter.

Her eyes just narrowed again, refusing to back down form her promise to herself to hate Kimiko. "Whatever." And with that, Suguha walked down the stairs.

Kimiko lifted her head a little to hear Suguha's mother welcoming her to dinner; a dinner she hadn't even told Kimiko about. Shaking her head as she opened the door to her bedroom, closing it after herself, Kimiko realised she wasn't getting any food today. Again.

Placing the new Amusphere over her eyes, she sighed as she felt the odd feeling of diving back into a VR game. It was a tingling feeling that left shocks flowing through her head and tingles behind her eyelids, but nevertheless she persevered, feeling something twitch in her head as she was fully immersed into the game.

Once colours had stopped blending together, she orientated herself..just in time to hear someone cock the hammer of a 45. Calibre handgun.

She knew where her weapons where through sheer muscle memory, and so, with a turn, the offending gun, as well as the hand of the person holding it, were severed. The digitised wrist dropped to the ground before dissipating on contact, while the gun remained a few second longer before bursting into red and green squares.

Looking up, she looking into the hazel eyes of a bounty hunter; she guessed he must have hidden when she ruined his group and somehow found out where her avatar was.

With a quick swing of her photon blade his head was gone form his body, the face of shock remaining on his head before it hit the ground and was vanquished from the digitised world for all of eighty seconds. She had eighty seconds to beat feet to a hiding place, lest he revive and call for backup: Backup that she couldn't afford to be dealing with right now.

Seeing a small cave about two miles from where she stood, Kimiko sprinted as fast as she could, her near limitless stamina providing a near endless sprint to the cave that she realised, as she got closer, was actually quite massive...and dark.

Good, she liked dark.

Arriving to the cave in no sooner than a minute, Kimiko counted that she had twenty seconds before the hunter revived himself. Slipping into the darkness, she ventured further into the rocky cave that she later realised was a larger version of the cave she'd saved Sinon in when she was still trapped in here.

Darkness shrouded everywhere, pitch black as far as the eye could see, but her eyes could see just fine. It was something about her moving from one VRMMO to another, but she could care less about the specifics, as long as the item she came here for was still, in fact, here.

She opened her inventory, searching with almost widened and panicked eyes with each item she came across that wasn't marked with three question marks. _'This is becoming quite tedious, but it better be here...she better be here.'_

She sighed in relief, when after almost two minutes of searching, she found the item in question. Pressing the button that let her activate it, the screen of her HUD flashed slightly before a small diamond-like gem appeared in her left palm.

She could feel something flowing through it and into her hand, but to her it was a comforting feeling whereas anyone else would have found it disturbing or worrying. It meant something was in there, something that could feel her as well. Her right index finger came to tap the gem, and as soon as the fingertip collided with the gem's blue surface, a bright light filled the room, flowing into Kimiko's digital eyes, temporarily blinding her.

As soon as she felt the light fade, as blindingly white as it was, Kimiko almost wished she was blind again. Looking down, her grey eyes widened in something akin to glee, something massively like glee. She felt something touch her hand, and idly noticed another hand wrapping around her waist, but was too numb with the feeling to respond in any way. This was the first time Kimiko had ever been paralysed with an emotion.

The soft hand came to touch her face, and her eyes widened when she felt a form squeeze their head into her chest. Almost on instinct she lowered her head down and ruffled the form's hair with her chin, getting a pleased, childish sigh.

She finally felt the feeling of glee fade out of her body, and the numbness along with it; the feeling of the form's soft hands wrapped around her waist was enough for her to whisper the one name she missed.

"Yui..."

"Mama...Mama!"

Yui nuzzled her face in the crook beneath her mother's chin, and in that moment, for once in her life, Kimiko knew the meaning of the word 'happiness'.


	4. The Sadness Experiment

**In this chapter, you will see something that will shock a lot of you, make a lot of you hate me...plot twists. Oh yes, I'm about to throw something you never expected into the mix for you all to stare at with beady eyes and tears streaming down your face.**

**Short chapter, but the next chapter will make up for this...trust me, after this you'll either hate me or love me to the point of confessing your love for me through PM.**

**No word of a lie, I actually had someone declare their love to me; it was...odd, finding a Pm in my inbox describing everything she found out about me- quite a lot, actually- and everything she loved about me.**

**Let's just say it was a really, REALLY long list. **

**But back to the story; hate me, declare your love for me, review, comment or simply read and think "meh", but you will cry at this. **

**Prepare your tissues...Mwahahaha!**

**Or not, if I'm honest this ain't that depressing.**

(^^^^^^)

"_People can be so cold. They will hurt you, and desert you, and then they will take your soul if you let them. Don't let them."_

_-James Taylor-_

(^^^^^^)

She barely registered the sad look she was receiving from Argo, the news she'd just received cracking her heart, however small and nearly nonexistent it may be, into tiny pieces and grinding those pieces into dust.

Yui, who she'd integrated into her phone, was consoling her mother; only Kimiko could hear her due to the fact that she was wearing headphones and the sound was low, but the voice did very little to aid in her oncoming depression.

Even through her daughter's distressed cries of 'mama, please say something!' Kimiko could barely even blink.

Sinon had died.

The only person to see past her Black Swordswoman title and look at the lonely girl behind it, died. The only person to ever show Kimiko an ounce of unconditional love, died. The only person that wasn't bothered by the fact that Kimiko couldn't even say those three words to her, the three words that would have meant everything to her, died. The only person that Kimiko ever felt that she could say those words to, died; in a car crash no less: A damn car crash.

It was apparently instantaneous, her neck snapping as she was flung out of the front window and landed on the ground. No pain, no last words, just...instant. to make it worse for Kimiko she'd received a text from Sinon just before the crash telling her that she loved her and that she wanted Kimiko to be happy...almost as if she expected to die. That was what broke her the most; she had a feeling that Sinon had an inkling she would never get to see Yui, or spend a Christmas with Kimiko. She sent a rather small text message before she died, but it said everything.

_I Love you Kimiko. Tell Yui Sinon says hi, and I love you Kimiko...so much._

_Be happy._

With idle curiosity she noted that even Suguha was here, looking at her with something other than hatred for the first time in a long, long time; Suguha looked at her with a look of barely contained satisfaction, as if this would finally break Kimiko even more so she could mould her into the perfect sister- a sister that did as she was told, a sister that didn't get starved by her mother, a sister that would say "I was wrong, Suguha".

It may seem petty, but that was why Suguha hated Kimiko so much; it was literally a case of Suguha walking in on Kimiko writing something into a small black diary- even when she was young Kimiko liked the colour black. She read it when Kimiko wasn't looking, found out that Kimiko liked girls, and the homophobe in her came out. She began pushing away an immensely confused Kimiko, and before Suguha knew it, she'd unintentionally made Kimiko push back, furthering the intended distance between them. Suguha just wanted Kimiko to snap and admit that she was wrong and they'd go back to being the best of friends again- she shouldn't like girls the way she did- but Suguha didn't want Kimiko to break.

She didn't mean to, but her tongue slipped and suddenly the entire school- or the people that didn't catch Kimiko kissing a sexually curious girl- began to shun her; the teachers gave her detentions for literally no reason, the students threw things and began calling her rather disgusting names that shall not be repeated. It broke her, it shattered her that her only family hated her guts; she could care less about the school, but her family...well, that ended her.

It was after that moment that Kimaka Kazuto died, and from her blood and tears rose Kimiko; cold, emotionless, apathetic Kimiko. A girl who seemed to be the very depiction of cold, of the colour she loved so much- heart black, clothing black, hair black...hell, sometimes her eyes even seemed black. She crept through the shadows to avoid being seen by her peers and teachers; came home when her mother and sister were asleep to avoid either a beating or the threat of starvation.

Kimiko, with a slow blink bringing her back to reality, had realised that she preferred virtual reality to actual reality; in virtual reality she was respected and feared, not hated and ignored. In virtual reality she was alone, not surrounded by people that hate her, even if they said they didn't. In virtual reality she was in a world where she was seen as the loneliest in the world, not a freak.

In virtual reality no one knew who she was, but in real life...everyone knew. She just _had_ to beat SAO, didn't she? She'd admit to any judge that SAO was far better than real life any day, and could make a list of reasons as to why...one of them being that missed the feeling a rush of battle gave her.

She blinked again, the movement of her eyelids slow and robotic, as if she had turned into a heartless machine- if you asked anyone that knew her, they'd say she was a heartless machine before Sinon's death anyway. In SAO she hunted anyone with a colour other than green above their heads, she massacred entire red player guilds, she made the Laughing Coffin fear her, and they were known for their fearlessness.

And then, one more blink, she returned back to the world of a worried Asuna, a sighing Argo, a frowning Agil and a straight-faced Suguha.

Looking down at her phone, she took note that her daughter was looking at her through the screen with barely contained horror. She looked up, slow, robotic, mechanical, to see Agil's frown deepening, Argo gasping, Asuna throwing a hand over her mouth and Suguha looking at her with a slight look of pity.

Kimiko was crying; she'd never cried, never, and right now tears as black as midnight were pouring down her cheeks at a rate clearly unhealthy for anyone- her black thin eyeliner had somehow mixed with the pooling tears in her eyes and turned them black, giving her an otherworldly, yet depressing, look. Her face, however, was set in stone, eyes apathetic, face emotionless, body rising and falling slightly with a steady breathing pattern...but it was clear as day that Kimiko was crying, and on the inside, she was dying.

Everyone just watched as Kimiko exited the house, her phone limply in her hands as she talked to it quietly, almost hoarsely. Her voice couldn't be heard by the others, but it did sound as though she was never going to speak again, what with the way she was humming instead of actually using words.

The door opened, snow blowing in through the space, before it closed again, Kimiko's form disappeared into the void of white frozen liquid.

(^^^^^^)

She'd returned when everyone was sleeping, slipped into her Amusphere and immediately she looked everywhere for her daughter; Yui was in the cave she left her in, last she remembered, and she was about to comfort Yui and let her know she was okay.

When she got there, Yui was the one comforting her.

Yui was sitting in her mother's lap, looking up at her, rubbing circles into her chest and hugging her, trying to get a reaction out of Kimiko. All she got was a very hoarse "Thanks, Yui" before Kimiko looked straight ahead again, which made Yui frown and Kimiko to continue staring.

Then right in front of Yui's eyes, Kimiko shot up straight, her eyes widening, her mouth opening as if shocked. Yui could see tears pooling along the edges of her mother's grey eyes, and wrapped her hands around her tighter. She knew what was happening to Kimiko; she was just realising what had happened, she had just snapped out of her shock as all the pain hit her at once, and to alleviate her mother's pain, Yui simply hugged tighter.

"It'll be okay, mama." Yui whispered lowly, not expecting her mother to hear it, but as she felt tears dribble onto her forehead, she looked up to see her mother looking at her sadly. "You still have me."

Kimiko looked like she'd just realised something, something massively drastic that could change her life; that could either make or break her even more that she already was. It could send her into a paradise, a place she no longer recognised, or back to Hell, a place she visited nearly daily. Yui was her anchor now, her reason to continue living- she may be an artificial intelligence, but she was _her_ artificial intelligence...her _daughter_, and Kimiko could keep hold of that to keep her sane.

Leaning down, she pressed her lips to Yui's cheek, a small peck that conveyed the emotion she herself couldn't.

"I'll protect you, Yui. You will never die; not like...like Sinon and Sachi." She tightened her slackening grip even tighter around her daughter, feeling Yui's head against her chest; she could tell the girl was smiling, listening to her heartbeat.

A small smile graced Kimiko's face, a sad one, with little to no emotional meaning behind it at all.

(^^^^^^)

She awoke from sleep one day to realise something was wrong; dreadfully wrong. Not worryingly wrong, but wrong to a point that she was left wondering what was going on.

First, when she slept, she slept in all of her clothing, not in her underwear.

Secondly, her room was not filled with bright colours and varying shades of orange, brown and green. She could safely say she'd rather gouge her eyes out with a rusted spoon and decapitate herself with a blunt knife before those colours ever crossed her mind as good enough to be put on her wall.

Lastly, she never had a girl about six years old cuddled up to her, though she did once have a girl who looked about six practically clinging to her, stark naked with the smell of sex flooding the room- that was back in SAO, and Kimiko was firm in her belief of 'giving and not taking', so she'd given her skilled hands to the girl for a night and not taken the girl's in return...maybe because the little loli was too tired to even attempt moving.

That girl died two days later when she followed Kimiko into a dungeon to help the Black Swordswoman.

And somehow, she recognised where she was, recognised what was going on; a haze came to her, showing moment of the day before. Yui hugging her, keeping her calm when she would have broken and cried and screamed; the consolation prize she'd received from Yui in the form of _"You've still got me"_ reminded her that she still had her daughter to be that reason to carry on.

Looking at the gun situated on a small wooden table next to her, she realised that she'd passed out from emotional exhaustion in GGO...but then...why was her Black gunwoman kit from GGO folded up neatly and on a chair opposite the table, and not on her body?

Feeling that today was already too weird for her to think about, Kimiko shrugged, removing Yui from the death grip the girl had her chest in- she'd idly noted that her own daughter had a hand firmly on her right, barely covered breast, but the ability to blush left her years ago, so she simply shrugged once more. It was hardly weird anyway; girls had hands that wandered in their sleep, somehow finding themselves looking as if they'd attempted to climb walls, or with their hands somehow found beneath the pillow their heads were resting on a moment earlier. Yui's other hand was, as if to prove her right, stuck between the bed and the wall, her wrist twisted sideways and her hand gently pawing up and down bedside.

Yui awoke five minutes after her mother to see her sitting in the chair the folded up clothing used to be, her photon sword hanging at her waist with her pistol strapped to the holster in her right thigh.

Then she looked down to see her state of undress, and squealed as Kimiko simply shook her head; Yui was more human than she thought. That was another thing she loved about her daughter, she wasn't even trying and already she was more human than most people were- there was no point calling her adopted or anything, she may as well have given birth to the girl with the amount of love she had for her. Yui, to Kimiko, was the embodiment of innocence, though tinged and tainted with the black aura that seeped off of Kimiko almost all the time.

Though, if Yui turned out as cold and as emotionless to anyone that wasn't herself and Kimiko, she could hardly deny that she wouldn't care. In fact, she'd enjoy it very much, and could already feel a sense of pride when she saw Yui just shrug it off- she was already so like Kimiko.

"Mama, are you okay now?"

Kimiko simply looked at her, staring for a full minute making Yui nervous and shaky. Snapping out of her trance-like state, Kimiko simply waved a hand, making the universal hand sign of 'a little bit'.

Seeing Kimiko then pull up her menu, Yui smiled; she was ready to return to the real world after all.

Just as she was about to wish Kimiko a good day, however, said black haired woman turned her head slightly and looked at Yui oddly.

"Yui, is there some reason I can't log out?"


	5. Poll Notice

Just to let you know, I'm releasing a poll for you, the readers, to decide on who you want Kimiko to be romantically involved with next; this person will actually be a PERMANENT one this time, and I will explain a lot of stuff in the next chapter anyway.

And yes, I see you Yui fans waving your 'YuixKimiko4life' flags around she is an option too. PM me if you want someone else added to the Poll, but for now it will just be the girls I can think off of the top of my head.

the roster for the girls is as follows:

Yui (Because a lot of you seem to be waving around the YuixKimiko flag in the reviews...)

Argo (Because sure, but...well...I dunno, reasons?)

Lisbeth (Because Meh)

Suguha (because...actually, why? Just...why?)

Yuuki (Because I Can't remember what she looks like, need to brush up on my SAO...again)

Asuna (Because reasons? *Hint Hint*)

Ressurected Sachi (Because logic and reasons. I mean, I could make it happen through some way right? THIS. IS. FANFICTION! *Kicks disbeliever off of cliff*)

Yulier (Because of That grey haired chick that Yui commented on never having smiled in SAO)

Sillica (Because Some of you actually PMd me and asked me to make then a pairing...which is shocking considering Sillica's barely fourteen, and according to American law it would be technical rape if they did anything...but whatever, up to you guys; I for one could care less. she cute doe...)

have fun~

BTW, the poll closes next Saturday, which is also when the new chapter begins getting written, so...I would suggest voting...quickly. As in now. clickety-click ladies and gents.

Oh and shout out to IamgRiefeR7: I'M SORRY! *Hugs to stop you crying*

UPDATE: I realise I said that Asuna had died in my story, and I apologise for that; mistake with another test story i'm making. sorry guys, to anyone who spotted it.

**UPDATE** 2: I've changed the poll to multiple choice, because a lot of you are complaining that there's too much choice...whatever that means.


	6. Poll Results

And that's it for the poll!

The poll is now closed, and here are the results!

Yui: 12 (a first of its kind on this site)

Argo: 9 (I don't even know why everyone voted for her, considering she is hardly ever mentioned in the story, but whatever)

Yuuki: 8 (Kinda funny considering she hasn't shown up yet, but I planned to have her thrown into the mix, so I guess...it could have worked?...I think?)

Lisbeth: 5 (Shame it wasn't the winner, but there are enough of these stories around anyway)

Sillica: 4 (I would have liked to do this, but oh well. it would have been quite unique, considering there aren't many of them around)

Suguha: 2 (HOW THE ACTUAL FUCK DID THIS GET ANY VOTES, LET ALONE TWO!?)

Resurrected Sachi: 2 (Oh well, no big loss...)

Yulier: 2 (Shame, because that would have made this the first YulierXKirito/Kimiko story out there)

Love triangle (Specify): 1 (There were a lot of PMs to my account suggesting various love triangles, but I made it clear you needed to vote on the poll. PMing me was so I could add a new triangle to the poll, but unfortunately you voted late. sorry)

Asuna: A big, fat, complete, round, circular ZERO! That'll teach you, Asuna!

So, if you couldn't tell, this fic will be, from now on, YuiXKimiko. Also, this will be the first YuiXKimiko/Kirito fic out there, so enjoy this little rarity.

The new chapter will be released in about four days; sorry for the delay, but I do have college to compete with.


	7. Maddening, Isn't It?

**So, I know I said that I'd make this chapter longer than the rest, but I promised to have this out before next Friday, and I think with the introduction of someone, you can all hold out just for a little more. **

**As for the other SAO story I'm currently writing, it should be ready for ya'll to read by next Wednesday. **

**Hold in there, avid readers! Hold on for me!**

(^^^^^^)

"_Plip, Plop, the rain drops,_

_Splashing all over the ground._

_Endlessly soothing the dryness of earth,_

_A shower all around..."_

(^^^^^^)

It became somewhat of a task for Yui to stop her mother from completely breaking down into hysterical, insane giggles. Something akin to the times when Yui had first 'died'; oh yes, she'd witnessed what her mother did, babbling about revenge with hatred seeping from her very pours like a cursed water through cracked rocks.

The fact that her mother could no longer log out of GGO must have caused her to snap, caused her to relive memories, caused her already broken soul to break even more- if only just a little bit. Her grey eyes had shrunken to nothing but small pinheads that shook from side to side every second, her hands shaky as they clasped themselves around her grinning mouth; this was another side no one could ever witness, _no one_. Otherwise they'd see her weaknesses, her failed strength, and her one moment of absolute _failure_.

For in that moment, she failed to protect Yui.

It was the day Yui died in SAO that Kimiko snapped; the day she truly became the Black Swordswoman. Sure, Sachi's death did a number on her fractured spirit, but _Yui's_ death broke it, shattered it. Yui's death rendered the healing of Kimiko's heart useless, pointless.

She became the Black Swordswoman not out of necessity, but out of love; too much love for the people around her- those she knew, those she didn't now, those she saw die and those that barely escaped with their lives. She also did it to push people away, make them fear her as much as she hated the fear her very name warranted- it still strikes terror into SAO survivors and GGO players everywhere.

Those that truly felt the sting of her name though, none other than Laughing Coffin themselves, avoided everything and anything to do with her; they skipped towns that Kimiko was rumoured to have been to, they avoided people that she interacted with- be them few as they were- and they absolutely complied with everything the Swordswoman would say to them if they ever did come across her.

But now was not the moment for reminiscence, Yui thought with a grim smile; there was a time and a place for those kinds of thoughts. No, she needed to keep her mother sane enough to last the day without murdering a village of NPC's to feel better. She needed to keep Kimiko sane enough to survive the night without fitful nightmares- she assumed her mother would be sleeping in this world once more, because reality didn't seem to want to have her back.

She's been sucked into SAO, a death game, and now GGO too?

"_Yui won't die again, not again..."_

_What would you do if you had one friend?_

"_Not again, not again, not again..."_

_Only one...huh?_

"_She's all I got, everything and nothing, all of it..."_

_Only one...the only one._

"I need you Yui." Kimiko grabbed Yui by the arms, keeping the surprised girl in place as her mother hugged her tight to her chest; her face pressed against her collarbone, her hands frozen where Kimiko's kept them in place. Yui's surprised expression soon shifted to that of a saddened frown, her mother's choked sobs and shaking form showing the beginnings of a true 'Kimiko Style' breakdown.

That meant she wanted to kill something, sit alone all day, or lie in bed and just sleep.

Hopefully it was the latter, because the two formers were respectively horrific and depressing.

(^^^^^^)

_What's your nightmare, Kimiko?_

_What do you hate beyond all else?_

_Loneliness perhaps?_

_No, you seem to like the loneliness..._

_...is it what causes the loneliness you hate?_

_Or is it simply...yourself?_

(^^^^^^)

Kimiko could feel the effects of a hangover routing deep within her brain; the skull that shelled it was cracking under the throbbing and twitching centre of nerves.

Her veins pulsed as she lifted a heavy hand; grey eyes squinting with all their might trying not to fall asleep- the digital fly flew around her head for hours, and she had tolerated its existence long enough. the incessant buzzing that it seemed to give off annoyed her deeply to no end; it caused her to hate the fly, to loath its existence, to want to snuff it out just to get some form of peace.

The chopstick in her hand was drawn back like a dart thrower would launch a dart, and flung it true. The chopstick didn't make a noise as it snatched the fly and pinned it to the wall.

Even intoxicated she could still be a force to be reckoned with- with chopsticks no less! _Chopsticks_, of all things! Her aim was true, as true as it had always been when she was sober, when sobriety took her away from the pleasures of alcohol- hangovers and intoxication were just mere things, words, to her. They mattered little when she was the one with the Five-SeveN in her hands: When she was the one with the photon sword glowing as she blocked bullets, defying the VRMMORPG's physical laws.

As a drunk, being not completely impervious to its tricks and side-effects, Kimiko tended to act a little differently. Different than normal, that is.

While outwardly cynical in the real world, inwardly, the side alcohol dragged out, she was soft. A very caring person- but she almost forgot why she began drinking in the first place. It had only been a day, after all. A day since she realised she'd been trapped in a game once more, but surely that wasn't enough to warrant excessive drinking, right?

But of course it was! This was her descent into madness right now, her only way to escape the nightmares. The world seemed intent of annoying her and toying with her, it seemed content with the suffering she had already been through; the world seemed to want to destroy her fomr the inside out, slowly degrading the proud, feared woman into nothing but a babbling, giggling mess. A _dangerous_ babbling, giggling mess. Her first love Sachi had died, her second Sinon had perished; the third...third...third? There was a third?

Kimiko lifted her hands to her face, feeling absolutely hammered right now, but decided to count anyway; yep, she held three fingers up alright...but why? There were only two people she loved more than life itself, her daughter excluded. Only two she'd slept with, only two she'd kissed, only two she'd felt safe with and would protect with all of her strength.

...but a thought, niggling at the back of her brain, crawling through with claws as sharp as knives, began scratching at the surface of something greater. Something undiscovered, which continued to annoy her. She knew everything, or so she thought- she became a genius simply because of ostracism, simply because she was hated. She became what the bullies wanted her to be; a smart-ass, cynical, always-defiant, hateful woman with enough bubbling hatred to cause the world to fear her.

Then she slumped, a deep sigh flowing through her mouth; she was stuck in yet another game, and could somehow tell she'd been placed back into the hospital. It wasn't exactly rocket science why- to keep the ignored hero alive long enough to die naturally, so that way the doctors could claim they had done everything they could to avoid law suits. She wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of dying in the game; she wasn't going to leave Yui.

Her daughter came to the forefront of her thoughts, shielding her in a bright ray of smiles and a hug...oh wait...not a thought; Yui was in front of her. She was sure she'd left the little six year old-looking AI behind at home so she could drink without scaring the girl.

Shows how much she knew about her own daughter when it came to the girl's detecting skills- as in this girl may as well be the next Sherlock Holmes of Japan with the amount of times she'd found things that even Kimiko herself would admittedly have a hard time seeing.

Yui looked to be smiling, but Kimiko, even with a hangover threatening to split her head in two, could see the disheartened look hidden behind the cheesy grin; she was scared for Kimiko, sad that the once strong woman had resorted to slipping into an alcoholic frenzy to kill the memories.

Turns out that, as soon as she got stuck here, alcohol began to affect her system. To say she was overjoyed that she could drink herself and her sorrows away was an understatement. A big one.

Sitting up straight despite the lights of the outdoors threatening to burn her eyes from her sockets, Kimiko put on a stoic face as best as she could, trying desperately to ignore Yui's look of sadness behind the smile. "Hey Yui, you okay?"

Yui smiled even more, now a little more genuine thanks to Kimiko sounding fine. Her voice was no longer scratchy like it was a couple of days ago after her little 'insanity slip'. Nodding her head, hair falling over the left side of her face, her mouth opened in a bigger smile. "Yeah! Hey mama, I found a friend!"

Kimiko sat up straighter than a board, if that was even possible. A friend, in GGO, a place where killing was your number one priority? Yeah, right! But she couldn't discourage her little girl, she couldn't do it without her heart breaking. A friend, as unlikely as she thought they were to come across in VRMMORPG's, was all Yui would have aside form Kimiko herself.

And as much as Kimiko was loathing saying it, she couldn't always be there- not entirely. She'd be there in spirit, in heart, but she physically couldn't always be there. She had to find food, her still being the most wanted woman in GGO meaning she had to resort to the times when...Sinon was around.

Shaking her head, she looked at her girl with a smile, small, hardly noticeable, but Yui knew what to look for. "Well? Let me see them then." Her voice was soft despite the copious amounts of alcohol that flooded her system only a day before; sounding _abnormally_ soft, actually. She brushed it off; Yui took the stage all the time, and Kimiko would never deny her the spotlight, even if it was on herself.

Yui squealed and ran outside the bar, many shooting Kimiko strange looks and some with a recognised glint in their eyes; they'd found out who she was already!? Great, now this meant she'd have to wrap up this little meeting of hers sooner than she would have liked.

Just before she could stand, a purple haired girl stood before her, some sort of sword that she recognised instantly strapped to her waist; an outfit resembling that of something you'd see out of SAO that the girl wore was catching her eye though. Purple eyes wide with excitement, a smile almost as wide as Yui's own- by a very small margin- and a face almost as pale as Kimiko's own.

Yui bounced exuberantly, face scrunched into that familiar look of barely contained glee. The girl in front shot a hand out with speed Kimiko could see clearly while outsiders would only see a blur- _'Impressive'_, was one thought, but she settled for _'poser'_.

"Hi! My name's Yuuki Konno, or Konno Yuuki; however you want to say it!"

Kimiko looked at the girl with a stoic face, her hangover suddenly wearing off, the remains of alcohol escaping her bloodstream at last- thank god for her healing factor that was dragged over from SAO, otherwise she'd be knocked on her ass. "Kimiko."

The monotonous voice caused Yuuki to falter momentarily, before she seemingly rejuvenated her happiness. Nevertheless she lowered her arm that was waiting for a handshake. "So...Yui's your kid, huh?"

Kimiko nodded, not missing the slightly put-down attitude of the girl; she figured her cold voice scared the girl, Yuuki was it? "Yes."

Yuuki raised a hand behind her confused head, scratching it as she looked at Kimiko with the look akin to a lost puppy. "But...you look my age...and she looks about six."

Yui stomped in now, standing in front of Kimiko with her hands across her chest. "I'll have you know I'm sixteen, thank you very much!"

Yuuki deadpanned, face blank and voice unbelieving. "Yeah, okay, sure." She then leaned down and patted Yui on the head, her hair being ruffled simultaneously. "And I'm a witch!"

As Yuuki waved her hands as a ghost would, completely failing at the 'witch' part of her statement, Yui huffed. "You sure act like one..." she muttered, eyes off to the side and head down.

Yuuki simply chuckled shaking her head. "Sticks and stones~"

"-Are the weapons I'll use to break your bones if you keep it up!" Yui tried, and failed, to attack Yuuki, the taller girl simply holding her hand on Yui's head, stopping her from moving, as she lifted a hand to her face and yawned exaggeratedly, further aggravating the little AI.

Kimiko just watched with slight amusement; her Yui could get into such trouble sometimes, but ti was good to see she'd found a friend that didn't really care how young she was- sure she implied it, but this Yuuki person was simply joking, so she'd do the only thing she could at this moment.

"I approve."

And just like that the fighting stopped.

Yuuki slowly turned her head to the otherwise silent Kimiko, before looking down to see a beaming Yui; what was going on? Approve of what? Her death!? Oh no, she was too young to die! As she began blubbering, Yui caught the bit about her 'dying before she's supposed to', and couldn't help the giggle that escaped her lips.

"No, silly; mama means she approves of you being my friend!"

Yuuki stopped, her face scrunched into a scowl at the little girl, before she simply sighed, as though tired of the girl's presence already. She looked up at Kimiko, silently asking how she should deal with the little girl in front of her that smiled as though expecting something. Kimiko simply shook her head and placed a hand on Yui's shoulder, indicating she wasn't going to help Yuuki with this one; so cruel!

She sighed once more, the world feeling as though it were bearing down on her. "Well...okay then. If I must, then I'll be your friend!"

Yui, grabbing Yuuki's hands, spun the taller girl around in circles, exuberant laughter filled with glee echoing through the room that they occupied; others in the bar simply watched with amusement, some sharpening their daggers and cleaning their guns as they prepared to take Kimiko down right here.

Kimiko heard something off in the distance; something that sounded familiar to her but at the same time, it was as though she hadn't heard the sound in ages. A click sounded, and she scrambled form her seat, grappling Yui and Yuuki both to the ground to avoid the bullet that would hit the wall between them.

A sniper.

(^^^^^^)

_What's that one thing you hate most, Kimiko?_

_Your 'daughter' Yui?_

_Your unknown feelings?_

_Yourself?_

_...or maybe all three?_

_You remember when you murdered me, right?_

_Of course you do, but I don't hate you._

_I'm probably the only one that doesn't, actually._

_Don't you worry, girl; I can save you._

_Your madness gone, this world torn apart._

_I can send you and Yui somewhere safe._

_Somewhere you can be the Black Swordswoman again._

"_..."_

_You'd like that, wouldn't you?_

"_..."_

_Wouldn't you? You miss the Swordswoman._

_Let her out, Kimiko._

_You miss her. _

"_...Yes, Yes I do."_

_Told you, child! Good!_

_Admit to yourself that you need to be her again._

_Not this snivelling wreck hiding behind guns and fancy light swords._

_You need yourself, don't you?_

"_Yes, Yes I do."_

_Then do you want me to send you there? Yuuki knows the place, she's been._

_Do you want me to make sure you and Yui can live out your days?_

_Live away from the real world?_

"_Yes."_

_Then it is done._

_Oh, and Kimiko, before I forget?_

"_Yes, Kayaba?"_

_Thank you for freeing me in SAO, Kimiko._


End file.
